Fathers that never told they had bikes ...

[cb1313]

I am 59 years young and got my first bike at 16 (1965 Honda 305 Scrambler). My parents where not happy but allowed me to have a bike. Many years and bikes later at age 50 I purchased a 2004 BMW RT1150 and my Dad says to a family member that I am to old for a motorcycle.

Anyway... a he has passed away and so has my Mom. My Mom's sister tells me that my parents used to bike all over California where they met during the war.

Did your Dad ever ride and failed to mention it ????

 

Cb

[kenw]

They didn't but I know where your comming from! My buddy and I had 305 scramlers that we were going to ride from chicago to California! I guess we were the flower and peace generation! Never happened and now I'm a little wiser.

[straycatt]

I got my first motorcycle at ten tears old. Several year later I tried to teach my dad to ride a 125cc mx bike that I was racing at the time.

 

He gave it up about half way thru the first ride, when he tried to ride up (or through) the side of our house.

 

A few years after my fathers "incident" I finally talked my mom into getting on the back of my first street bike, a Kawasaki 500 triple.

She made it to the end of the driveway and maybe another 100 yards and would go no further. I thought see might strangle me before I could get her off my scoot.

 

Sooooo.....no my parents were NOT closet bikers.

 

I remember when I was in my early 30's and had just bought another new bike, I took it over to show my dad. He checks it out, and says "you know, after those first few motorcycles you had when you were a kid, I thought sure you'd grow out of it."

 

Sorry dad, still haven't grown out of it yet, but thanks. Those bikes and his trust in me to ride were the best things he ever did for me.

 

I wish he was still here so I could tell him.

[dingy]

Actually, mine was very supportive. Even after some early wrecks.

 

Picture below is of his race triumph on the right.

 

Trailer behind was his also. Other two bikes are friends.

 

This was taken in 1949 prior to race at Daytona, which he led for a while.

 

 

 

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/BeforeDaytona1949.jpg

[Monty]

Nope. In fact, I rode with my Dad today...and my Son. We all went to Applebees for our free Veterans' lunch.

 

My Dad got me started riding before I was 10, and I did the same with my boys...they started at 5 years old on Yamaha PW50's.

 

Al 4 of us ride, and now all 4 of us are Vets....Yes, I am a lucky Dad.

[RandyR]

Both my Father and Stepfather had motorcycles when they were younger. My Dad had a Henderson and my Stepdad an Indian.

[irydasteelhorse]

my parents never rode, and as a kid, i wondered why they allowed me to have bikes (from age 5) when most of my friends werent allowed. it wasnt till years later i found out that my grand dad brought back a harley hack rig from the war. i remember a story about him giving my grand mother a ride and bouncing her out of the hack, and into a big mud puddle..........but that was a looooooooong time ago...............

[cbmel]

Yeah, my dad rode. When I got my first bike (a Suzuki 150) he was all PO'd. I found out later from an uncle that he had an Indian and used to raise all kinds of h*ll with it, going into towns and spraying gravel on cop cars and taking off. How he figured that I would end up doing the same with a rice-burner is beyond me.

[midnite]

My dad rode. Had an Indian Chief.Overheard him talkong to a guy one time, later when I asked him about it my mom told him to hush, and I never heard anything about it again.Wish he was still here to see this one, I think he would like it, even mom likes this one.:confused24:

[Wolf]

My dad grew up riding, and he is in the market to buy another one now. It has been 15 years since he rode, but I am enjoying the shopping with him. My two sons 13 and 14 have had dirt bikes all their lives, and I have promised each of them a new dual purpose when they get their license, as long as the grades are no lower than a C.

[DragonRider]

My buddy and I left our bikes, both were CL 350's, at my house one day and took my dads boat out to go waterskiing, when we got back, our bikes had been moved from where we parked them and my brother told me that our dad and my best friends dad took our bikes out and rode them, I didnt know he knew how to ride, then I found out he had a Honda 50 at the shipyard where he worked that he used to get around the yard. Wonder what other secrets our dads kept from us.

[Ponch]

Dad had bikes (HD's) from the time he was a teenager. He still lights up when he remembers his Harley 45 that was pieced together with baling wire from the farm when he was 16. He had a '63 HD DuoGlide when I was growing up. I guess that's why I still want a PanHead.

 

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My mom's dad used to trade services and goods for Harleys. He once traded a 16ga shotgun for a wrecked Harley, fixed it up and traded the HD for a Model T. This was pre WWII. He traded real hogs for Harleys too. Times were tough.

[Freebird]

I think that my dad may have had a bike or two when he was growing up but never owned one when we were growing up. I do know that he could ride though. When I was 15 and had just bought my Harley 250 Sprint, I was working at a local Sonic Drive In as a cook to make the payments on it. It was the first time I had borrowed money from the bank to buy a vehicle. One evening while at work, I looked out the window to see none other than dear old dad driving through the parking lot on the Sprint with a big grin on his face and waving at me as he drove by. Come to think of it, I think he should have made that month's payment. Nawww.....I know I owed him a LOT more than he would ever owe me.

[BigBoyinMS]

I wish I knew. He and most anyone in the the family that would know have passed on. But I do have a memory from the early 60's of me and my brother riding together in the little (about 16" square) trunk area of a Cushman scooter with Dad driving. I doubt I could get both feet in now.

Looked just like this but with no trunk lid...

 

http://www.hobbytech.com/FeatureBikes/joe-wierschem.jpg

[rod]

I knew that Grandpa rode motorcycles. What he kept secret was he raced and hill climbed competitively. They did Holister every year till they moved south. Rod

[AmnChode]

Nope, not a closet biker. When I was about 5 years old he used to ride a Honda CB750 that he dressed up with bags and a fairing. A couple years later, it was taken out by my oldest brother (let's just say, he was not riding under his optimal conditions). Never bought another bike afterwords. Took me a little over 10 years after I got out on my own before I got my own bike (a lot of that dealing with wife saying no...heh, I finally won). However, when I was getting it, all he was telling me was that "I didn't need one", "too dangerous", etc etc etc. I popped of the fact that he had one and his only reply was that it "was a different time then". "Then" being the 80's...hehehe As time passed on, both he and my mother have pretty much come to accept the fact that it "IS" who I am....although, he does hassle me that I can't flat foot the Venture...

 

Funny side note...only been riding for a couple years now and my mother has popped off about these new riders not knowing how to ride...I look at her funny and remind her that I haven't been riding for that long either, and she just looks at me and says, "But you know how to ride"...hehe